If you live overseas and you have (had) a successful business career, have significant business assets and commit yourself to be involved at the management level in a new or existing business in Australia, you can apply under the Business Owner Visa category.

To be eligible for a State/Territory Sponsored Business Owner Visa (Subclass 163), you need to provide evidence that:

• You are being sponsored by an appropriate regional authority of a State or Territory government (this requires a successful state or teritory sponsorship application);
• You have (had) an overall successful business career;
• For at least 2 of the 4 fiscal years immediately before you apply, you & your spouse had an ownership interest in a main business (or main businesses) that had an annual turnover of at least AUD300,000
• In addition, you (and your partner combined) must have owned at least:
  • 51 per cent of the business where the turnover is less than AUD400 000 per annum.
  • 30 per cent of the business where the turnover is AUD400 000 or more per annum.
  • 10 per cent where the business is a publicly listed company.
• You and your spouse's combined business and personal assets have a net value of at least AUD500,000, which are lawfully acquired and available to transfer to Australia within 2 years of the grant of the visa;
• You and your spouse have sufficient net personal assets to settle in Australia;
• You are less than 55 years old at time of application or you are proposing to establish or participate in a business that your sponsoring state or territory has determined is of exceptional economic benefit to the region;
• You have not been engaged in a business where the provision of professional, technical or trade services took up more than 50% of your time;
• Neither you or your spouse have a history of involvement in business or investment activities that are of a nature that is not generally acceptable in Australia;
• You have notified the appropriate regional authority of the state or territory of your business history and intentions to develop a business there;
• You have a realistic commitment to establish or participate in a qualifying business in Australia and maintain a substantial ownership and direct and continuous involvement in the management of that business;
• You have demonstrated that there is a need to be temporarily in Australia to conduct or establish the proposed business activity;
• You have signed a declaration that you understand your obligations as the holder of a Business Owner (Provisional) visa.
• You have signed an Australian Values Statement.This statement is included in your visa application form and all applicants aged 18 years and over will need to sign it to confirm that they will respect the Australian way of life and obey Australian laws. Before signing this statement you are required to have read, or had explained to you, material made available by the government on life in Australia which is contained in the Life in Australia book.